New online booking system to reduce travel fraud

Fraud in the on-line holiday home industry has been increasing over the last two years with the City of London Police setting up a team to combat it. Many large advertising websites have been caught with bogus properties uploaded by fraudsters duping holidaymakers into losing their hard earned cash.

A new on-line booking system has been designed by VIPvillas.com to cut fraud, increase confidence and provide bonded holidays from private villa owners. The system allows consumers to book on-line and comes with insurance to protect the booking.

Andy Parr, the company's managing director announces the launch, "We have developed our system to cut fraud in the private rental industry, provide reassurance to consumers and bring booking a villa holiday into the 21st century with immediate bookings and web2 services like reviews and interactive maps. The currency exchange system alone makes renting holiday property easier and cheaper for both the owner and the consumer."

The new system allows owners and agents to upload their properties to the site but vigorous checks are carried out to validate the owner and the property using software employed by the financial industry.

"We cross check an owner and their property across a range of international databases and validate all information given to us to cut out the fraudsters. The software is used by major banks to spot fraud before it happens," says Mr Parr.

The system then advertises the property to be booked on-line via VIPvillas.com and the owners/agents own website via a 'booking widget'. The centralised system can be uploaded to multiple websites utilising a single calendar and making life easier for the agent or owner to manage their property saving hours of administration.

VIPvillas.com are currently recruiting owners and agents to use the system; fraudsters need not apply.